Oh how I wish Devil’s Beach and it’s quirky residents were a real place I could visit! You’ve got the fired journalist licking her wounds at home while running Perkatory, one of the two coffee shops in town for her yogi father who is finding himself via medical marijuana and silent retreats. Her new free spirit assistant and her spunky sidekick, puppy Stanley. When her Fabio-ish former barista takes a head dive from the top floor of the coffee shops building Lana can’t resist sticking her nose into the case. Sheriff Hunk, aka Noah the non coffee drinker, has his hands full with the case and tourist-monkey business, literally. I can’t wait to see what the future holds in the hottest place in the south! ( )

Lana Lewis returned home to Devil's Beach, Florida from Miami after her marriage crumbled and she was laid off from her job at a top newspaper. Now she's running the coffee house her late mother started, and trying to do her best, especially when her barista, Fab, talks her into entering the state barista contest. Lana also hires a new barista, a strange woman named Erica who seems to have everything together -- including her ability to create great coffee art. But Fab isn't happy, and he lets Lana know about it.

The next day, Fab doesn't show up for work. When the local police chief, Noah Garcia, tells Lana he saw him working at a rival coffee house, she confronts Fab in front of a crowd. But then she leaves for Miami for an awards ceremony, hoping it will calm her down. When she returns the next morning she parks her car in her lot, only to find Fab's body. Shaken, she calls Noah and when the examination is completed, everyone thinks it was suicide. But Lana isn't sure. She doesn't believe that someone with a larger-than-life personality like Fab would kill himself. With the help of Erica and Lana's hippie father, she's going to find a murderer...hopefully, the killer doesn't want to kill again, with her as the next target...

This is the first book in the series, and I really thought it started slow, so it took awhile to gain and hold my attention. But I stuck with it (I hate to not finish books) and I was pleased by the end. We have Lana, who's despondent over losing her job and depressed over her marriage ending, and she's sworn off older men like her husband. But Chief Noah is interesting to her, and she to him. So maybe she's rethinking that while trying not to.

She's also trying to run her business but isn't sure about her frothing skills. Fab was her key to getting everything right, and now he's gone. And with everyone shouting suicide except her -- and his distraught girlfriend Paige who tells people Lana killed him -- she has her own self-interest in finding the truth. She's also inherited his puppy Stanley, and the little guy is starting to grow on her.

I do like Lana, Noah, Erica, and most of the other characters although the jury is still out on her father. I'm not truly fond of a middle-aged man who's living like a hippie, but that's my own opinion (probably brought on because I had an awesome Dad myself, whom I bonded with and spent time with every day until I lost him. Still miss him; he was a rock to me).

The mystery is well-written and the main characters are given time to develop, which I do like. Their personalities fit their actions well, and that's part of the charm of a good book to read. This one was easy enough to read in one sitting, and became more intriguing as the story went on. There were plenty of suspects, a ton of red herrings; but I will say that I knew who the killer was the minute they stepped onto the page; and only because I read so many mysteries did I figure it out early. The clues are there, but you have to look for them.

In the end, when all was revealed and the killer discovered, everything came together nicely. We do learn a little bit about what may happen in the next book, and that's a good thing. The book was indeed satisfying to read, and I look forward to the next in the series. Recommended. ( )

Lana Lewis, manager of an island coffee shop shares: "People shared the craziest details about their lives, and I loved every conversation and a bit of island gossip. It was like being a reporter, only without the deadlines and the writing."

But when Lana returns to Devil’s Beach after a night back in Miami for an awards dinner will she have the opportunity to write for the local paper about the murder victim she knew or will she be the prime suspect with another reporter writing this week’s police log?

This story has charming features that will delight all cozy mystery readers and especially all of us who love our coffee, hot or iced or both (like me!). For all who appreciate rescue stories, there’s an adorable Shih Tsu named Stanley that wiggles his way into everyone’s heart but especially for Lana. Creative store names always add to the fun and began with the coffee shop named by Lana's mother of "Perkatory." There’s also the neighborhood stores of "Whim So Doodle" (craft store), "Culture Waves" (island-themed knick-knacks and housewares store), the local bar of the "Dirty Dolphin" and without any further ado needed "Beach Books." Let’s not forget the introduction of the old and new love interests. There's never a dull moment especially as everybody knows Lana’s Dad. Just wait until you learn why!

I added this cozy series to my tbr list in February of this year but I don’t remember how I learned about it. It moved up on the priority list thanks to a May challenge by one of the cozy mystery Facebook groups. I’m so glad I didn’t wait another month to begin this series! Just wish I could visit "Perkatory" in person! Oh well, I will vicariously reading Book 2. :) ( )

“It’s Florida. Everyone’s strange. They shouldn’t be jerks on top of it.”
(p. 23). CROOKED LANE BOOKS. Kindle Edition.

Grounds for Murder is a mystery/romance taking place in contemporary times in a fictional Florida town called Devil’s Beach, three hours west of Miami on the Gulf of Mexico. It is written well for an author’s first novel, and for me, it was a welcome relief from some of the heavier literary stories I have been reading lately. Every time I read a “youngish” author, I learn something new about our culture. In this book, it was about competitive latte art. Baristas compete with each other for the best blended and decorative lattes. In this story, Lana Lewis, owner of the Perkatory coffee shop, plans to enter a latte competition with her employee, Fabrizio Bellucci (Fab), an Italian barista and “Instagramer.” She is happily running her late mother’s cafe after getting divorced and losing her job as a journalist. Fab has excellent barista skills, lives upstairs from the shop, and Lana is doing her best to befriend him while tolerating his reputation as a womanizer.

Lana attends an event in Miami, and when she returns to open Perkatory at 6:00 am, she finds Fab’s dead body as she parks her car. The police, headed by small-town chief Noah Garcia, whom Lana falls in love with, want to rule Fab’s death a suicide, but Lana can’t help but use her journalism skills to begin investigating the death as a murder. During her investigation and the story’s development, there are interesting Florida characters, including an alligator poacher and a mermaid tail maker. There are mafia connections among Lana’s potential suspects, and Lana also makes a new friend as she is forced to make business decisions. Additionally, Lana grows assertive when confronting her ex-husband and then the girl who bullied her in high school. So, there is much going on, and nothing is too deep or intense. It’s a good story and a quick read.
https://quipsandquotes.net/ ( )

Thanks to the BookTrib Giveaway for a review copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This was a fun, well-written cozy mystery set in the fictional tourist town of Devil's Beach, a small Florida island. Lots of coffee drinks, a hunky police chief, and a barista championship contest set the stage for an inquisitive ex-newspaper reporter who is determined to solve the murder of her former barista who was also a notorious ladies man.

I especially liked Lana, the feisty reporter and owner of Perkatory Café, as well as the chief's primary murder suspect. This entertaining novel offers several promising suspects, some quirky characters, a cute little dog named Stanley, and a solid plot. This was a satisfying cozy and I hope there will soon be more mysteries for Lana to solve (and me to read). ( )